Today we sat out a bit of a blow at anchor in Tranquil Bay – Southerly F6 gusting 7.
In summer the prevailing wind here is NW in the afternoons. Very light southerlies are common in the mornings, but any real wind from the South means a break in the weather, usually windy and possibly storms and rain.
It blew from the south from about 9am, increasing through the day. By midday, every boat was on watch in their cockpits as we all swung around in the busy anchorage – Tranquil Bay and Vlikho beyond are known as safe places to shelter from a blow.
Then, all eyes were on the small yacht immediately upwind of LouLouDitsi as its furled genoa began to flap near the top. It was inevitable that the wind, once into the rolled sail, would then blow it out further. The owner was visiting another yacht nearby and 2 dinghies from there rushed over to try to stop it happening. Then 2 more from other boats went to help. We stayed onboard Loulouditsi in case the extra force of the now flogging sail caused his anchor to drag – we were first downwind.
It was painful to watch and to hear – shreds of the UV strip and then the sail itself came flying downwind, the noise was dreadful and everyone in the harbour was willing the men on board to succeed in dropping the sail. Unfortunately, the top and bottom of the sail were now unfurled, while the middle was twisted tighter than ever. An early attempt to wrap the spinnaker halyard round the foresail to keep it tied up had failed. Eventually they got it down and soon afterwards the wind began to drop. The sail looked beyond repair. A reminder to always make sure the genoa’s completely furled, plus 2 or 3 turns of the sheets around it too.
At some point during all this, a dinghy with outboard came adrift and was rescued by another boat. Later on the same thing happened to another one.
At 7pm Full Flight whizzed across to invite us to drinks and nibbles. These turned out to be meze and more than enough to pass as a delicious evening meal. A lovely end to an eventful and slightly stressful day.